Page 55 of Sol
Not like I could tell her that. So all I said was, “Thanks for having meover.”
“My pleasure.Salud,” she said, and clinked her glass withmine.
“Salud.”
I took a bite of her cooking, and tasted the way the simple dish was perfectly cooked and flavored. “This isgood.”
Dani took a bite. “Oh, yay! It worked. It was a new recipe to me, but it sounded good.” As usual, her enthusiasm for life won me over. Again and again, she always made me want tolive. To explore new places. Try newthings.
“Thank you for makingit.”
She put her fork down. “Trent. Don’t be so formal. It’s me. Dani. I know we got off to the worst start here that we possibly could. But I’ve done some soul-searching. And I’d rather have you in my life than not—and I’ve always liked you. We have some things to talk about, but relax. Here, you aren’t my student, and I’m not the teacher. We’re just oldfriends.”
Friends. I hated that word. I’d take it, because it was better than enemies. But I thought I heard her whisper, “Maybemore.”
“So tell me where we should go while I’mhere.”
“The Med, definitely,” she advised. “Get to thewater.”
“Will you comewith?”
“Sure.”
Was she agreeing because she loved to travel? Or was she agreeing because she wanted to spend time withme?
I didn’tcare.
For now, I enjoyed her cooking. She ate food like it was the last thing on her mind, instead peppering me with questions about the trip over, about what I did in the army. And I asked her about her past fewyears.
She pushed her hair back. “I always travel a lot. It’s like I need to see everywhere. It’s all on my list. Seeing every part of the world. I just love taking off and discovering a newplace.”
And that was my fear. That she’d just take off from here and I’d never see her again. I wondered how many places she’d actuallybeen.
“Where all have you been? Can I see yourpassport?”
She set down her fork and got up, rummaged through a purse, and came back and handed it to me. Pages and pages of stamps in the back. Her picture, a few years old, looked just like her—messy hair, black-rimmed eyes, and seductivelips.
I handed it back to her, wishing that I could ask her about every stamp, every country, wanting to know every single detail about her so I could know her all that much better. “Mine is nowhere near asexciting.”
“Well, now you have time to travel, you know. If you want.” She shrugged, but it almost sounded like she was holding back from saying something. Maybe that we could go together wherever she was goingnext.
“This is true. I always wanted to travel. That’s part of the reason why I wanted to join thearmy.”
“Itwas?”
“Sure. I wanted to get to go see places, like Thailand or Alaska, which I did. But basically Afghanistan is where I stayed most of thetime.”
She appeared thoughtful. Maybe shewasthinking what it would be like to have a new travelpartner.
“How have your parentsbeen?”
“Just fine. I’m sure they’d love you to stop by if you ever went back toCalifornia.”
“Cool,” she said. “I’ll look them up if I do. I’m curious. What were you like as asoldier?”
“Kinda quiet. I guess I figured I just kept my head down and did my work. Didn’t question much of it. Just did myjob.”
“That sounds like you. Loyal Trent who does his duty. AndDegan?”
